This invention relates generally to a tumbling mill for new castings, but more particularly, pertains to a series of concentric cylinders that simultaneously move both the castings and its loosened mold sand for eventual disposition.
A great variety of various styles of tumbling devices or mechanisms are available in the prior art and primarily for usage for drying components, deburring machined parts, degreasing components, and even, more specifically, for removing sand from castings. In the latter use, such devices are generally identified as tumbling mills, and generally incorporate structure for providing roughened movement to castings for jarring loose any encrusted sand adhering from the mold. Most of these various style of prior art tumbling mills usually provide some form of an incline to a cylindrical shell, such as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,305, issued to Jooss, and usually include some form of tumbling bars along the inner surface of a shell and function to set the sprues for cleaning. In this style of mill, the encrusted sand, as it is loosened, generally remains intermixed with the castings, and only in particular locations is the sand allowed to pass through some form of perforations for collection. In such a mill, its structure delineates the collection point at specific locations, which necessitates the intermixing of the loosened sand with the castings until said collection point(s) is reached.
In addition to the foregoing identified patent, many of the prior art devices are designed for treating much rather delicate castings or workpieces, and hence, are of a more sensitive design and not disposed for handling the removal of encrusted sand from larger and more heavier castings. In the patent to Bintzler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,933,861, one such continuous feed tumbling apparatus is shown, wherein the metallic workpieces enter the tumbling barrel by means of a charging chute, are moved longitudinally of the barrel by means of helical conveyor vanes, while an inner chamber being conical in shape is designed for moving and returning the treated material such as sawdust or other lightweight materials back to the entrance of the tumbling barrel to achieve and cause an intermixing, rather than separation of the cleaning materials with the workpieces or castings. This prior art patent is the only one known to provide for a returning of some form of treating material back to the entrance of a tumbling barrel, but structurally, and operationally, the disclosed prior art device is quite distinctly different from the construction and principle of operation of the present invention as to be hereinafter described and defined in greater detail.
In view of the foregoing, it is the principal object of this present invention to provide a shake-out mill that functions as a tumbling unit to instantly separate loosened mold sand from its castings, and then induce simultaneous movement either in the same or opposite directions of these segregated components to collection points.
It is another object of the present invention to dispose a pair of closely arranged concentric cylinders, the inner one being formed having an apertured surface, so that castings may be simultaneously tumbled while the encrusted mold sand is both loosened and separated immediately from the same.
A further object of this invention is to provide a casting shake-out unit that can function even when disposed horizontally.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a tumbling shake-out unit that can be structurally arranged to provide for collection for the new castings and the loosened mold sand separately either both at the same or opposite ends of the apparatus' cylinder.
A further useful function of the present invention is to provide an apertured cylindrical surface within a shake-out unit that is sectionalized and formed from modular components that may be removed and replaced as they wear out as due to extended usage.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an integral casting shake-out unit that is substantially capable of being manufactured as an item of manufacture, and shipped as a single piece of equipment to the remote location of usage.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a casting shake-out that is comprehensive in its function, and can be operated by a minimum of labor all without supervision thereby reducing the heretofore substantial expenditure required in cleaning new castings.
These and other objects will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the summary of this invention, and the description of its preferred embodiment in view of its drawings.